Post navigation

You can’t Build Quality into Software BUT you can Keep Shit Out!!

For far too long now there have been a number of (marketing-driven) mantras along the lines of “building quality into software”. I even worked for a company that built a whole strategy around the concept, they called it “shift left”.

I’ve never been a big fan of hyperbole, especially around the promise of software, and so when the execs are looking for a “point of difference” and some bright spark (usually from marketing) comes up with “let’s say we build quality in from Day 1” my first reaction is “HOW DO YOU DO THAT?”.

As someone who wrote software for over 20 years, I can tell you that our main focus (as Developers) was meeting deadlines and this meant keeping things simple and not getting too clever. What this translated into was stuff like this:

Understand the main requirements and filter out frivolous requests for features that are not necessary

Understand how the software is going to be used in order that misuse can be prevented via the software, rather than the user or non-human interface

Understand the context within which the software will be used and then ensure its security within that domain

Understand the user base in order that the software be tailored for user level(s) of maturity

Understand the voracity of the data that is to be presented and ensure that it is good enough to enter our domain (by rejecting the rest)

This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea of the concept of “keeping shit out”, while it was certainly not “building quality in”. We could discuss concepts like “static analysis” here and there is certainly a major advantage to taking this approach, but I still see this as a “keeping shit out” tool as opposed to a “building quality in” tool.

In my book, quality is quite esoteric, in that it is in the eye of the beholder. Whereas, most people recognise shit quite easily. Most of us know what we DON’T want, but find it much harder to define what we DO want, so it is no wonder that the marketers focus on something that is far harder to define – it helps keep them in a job!!

If you want me to develop an App for your personal banking it will definitely cost you more and take me longer than if you want an App to keep you informed about the weather or an App that finds your missing Pokemon!! However, in each case they would still be delivered to exacting standards that met user expectations. And, in each case, I would still focus on “keeping shit out” not “how can I build quality in”.